Report on My Interviews

Christian Schnettelker, "BLOG" via flickr.com, 04/28/2015
Attribution 2.0 Generic License

My interview with Sophia Borgias was very interesting. I think it was great to get the perspective of someone who is not only new to publishing her research, but who was also currently going through the publishing process during the interview. Her answers were very informative and very conducive to my project. Unfortunately, I have not interviewed my other candidate yet but will soon.

• In the interview we primarily discussed papers and journals, which are the most common type of genres that are found in our field. However, there was a brief discussion of genres that would connect to the mass media, rather than a selective audience, such as blog posts like this.

•  As I briefly mentioned in the previous bullet, journals, and even more so research papers, are directed toward a very specific audience of fellow researchers and members of academia. The content can use more specific language and techniques that they are more likely to have seen before and can understand. They can also include more detailed information due to their increased length. Research papers are even more specific in that those who are reading it are reading it for a specific purpose. Blog posts, although they are shorter and must include more succinct information, allows for a broader audience. For one thing, they are much more accessible and searchable; a journal requires a much more specific search. The language used would be much easier to understand without prior knowledge and it is more to the point because of the length.

• Sophia feels that the most difficult to write in genre is the blog posts, the things that reach a more diverse audience, because you must then decide what are the most important points about what you are writing about. Then you must decide how to write it so that it is understandable, but doesn't lose too much depth in translation. However, length is not always beneficial; a long paper is difficult as well because you must always relate back to your main topic no matter what you write. Tangents are not really smiled upon in academia. Journals are even more difficult because you must write on the topic that is the theme of the current issue of the journal.

• However, writing in a blog post is exciting because you are able to share information with people who do not normally have access to it. This means that environmental issues that were unbeknownst to the general public before can now be center stage. Papers allow for the author to not only include all the information, but it also allows for their own voice and opinion to shine through. Journals allow create opportunities to get recognition and to begin building a name for yourself. 

• Blogs are great because they can be found with a simple google search or a key word. Journals are a bit more difficult because you have to know what journal you are searching for, and where to get a copy. Going through a university library is good, but if you do not have access to that resource it becomes more difficult. Research papers are the hardest to find because you almost have to know the author in order to find a viable copy. Some papers are published through a university and are in their database, while others are published through a company and are easier to find.